The winter months are a joyous time of year. Though the cold can be intolerable, many people all around the world gather with friends and family to celebrate Christmas or some other form of it. Gift giving, tacky sweaters, warm chocolatey drinks and a half-goat, half-demon whipping naughty children define December quite nicely.

Wait, what? A half-goat, half-demon whips naughty children during the Yuletide? Yes, you read that correctly. This dreadfully frightening figure is known as none other than Krampus. To put it mildly, he’s a more extreme version of Santa giving coal. He’s depicted being 7 feet tall, having cloven feet, large horns and dark matted fur. Sometimes he’s seen with a bushel of sticks to beat children with; other times, his long tongue is used instead. (Personally, I’d prefer the sticks.) There’s no concrete evidence leading to why he came to be, but one can assume the monster was used to ensure children would behave. After all, being threatened with being whipped and dragged to Hell by a Satan look-alike is a bit more intimidating than getting some black rocks.

Historically, Krampus comes around the night of December 5 with Santa. While the jolly man puts candy in the shoes of good children and birch twigs in those of the bad, Krampus is up to something far more sinister. The demon-goat-man either beats the naughty children with birch branches (or whips them with his tongue as previously mentioned) or stuffs them in his sack and drags them to Hell where he tortures them or eats them. Again, I’d rather be beaten with sticks.

Interestingly, Krampus’ roots have nothing to do with Christmas. They date back to pre-Germanic paganism in the region. His name comes from the German word krampen, which means “claw.” Tradition has it that he’s the son of the Norse god of the underworld, Hel. The Catholic Church tried to banish Krampus celebrations during the 12th century due to his likeness of the devil. In 1934 the Christian Social Party also tried to eradicate him, but to no avail (Billock).

It’s believed that the idea of Krampus was drawn from the German goddess Perchta. She was known for slitting open people’s bellies with her cloven feet and stuffing them with straw if they didn’t give her offerings on feast day. Perchta would also enter people’s houses mid-winter and leave gifts for hard-working children who obeyed their elders, but punished those who slacked off. Around the 17th century, her traits were adopted into Krampus, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that Christmas cards had drawings of him and Santa (Weber).

Now the real question is: Why in the world would people create something so terrifying and risk mentally scarring their child for life? Well, one has to remember that humans have been telling creepy folklore for thousands of years. This species is immensely fond of stories, so it’s not too surprising that some of those would include chilling tales. Even today the culture of horror stories is very much alive. There are websites dedicated to scaring the poop out of people, such as the infamous creepypasta.com and thoughtcatalog.com/tag/creepy-catalog.

Krampus is a perfect example of this craving for the spooky. He’s gone from a disciplinary fairy tale for young children in German-speaking, Alpine countries to an inspiration for comics, movies, and even festivals all the way in America. According to nerdist.com, Krampus appeared on episodes of Grimm, The League and even Scooby-Doo. In 2015, writer/director Michael Doughtry produced a graphic novel prequel to his movie, Krampus.

Today, Austria keeps the tradition of Krampus alive, but not in the way one may think. Instead of just telling their children to behave or else a demon-goat-man will get them, the people of Lienz take the celebration a step further. Annually, the Krampus Parade, also known as Perchtenlauf or Klaubaufe, is held in the streets of the city. Young men dress up as the beast and parade about in an ancient pagan ritual meant to disperse winter’s ghosts. They even go as far as to chase children and adults alike, poking them with their sticks and scaring them with the realization that they were naughty (Billock). There are quite a few videos on YouTube of these parades, and they’re as creepy as they sound.

Though it may be unnerving, it’s safe to assume that the tradition of Krampus isn’t going anywhere. Apparently last year there was a Krampuslauf in Burlington, VT, and the people who put it together are planning on doing one this year as well. There’s no chance of Austria giving up their parades, either, so be sure to be nice this coming Christmas.